"Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." (Matthew 24:8-9).

"Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done" (Mark 13:30).

June 1, 2010

Israeli Attack on Aid Flotilla in Gaza Strip

The most striking feature about Israel’s most recent act of terrorism, an act of piracy and murder on the high seas, is that it surprises nobody. A robber steals. Israel commits war crimes. What is even more remarkable is its attempts at self-justification, claiming that its soldiers were attacked.

Well of course they were attacked. They were illegally boarding a ship carrying peace activists trying to feed the starving people of Gaza in international waters. This was an act of piracy, this was an act of terrorism. Someone invades your space. You fight back.

For thousands of years there was no conflict in Palestine. In the 19th century, the land of Palestine was inhabited by a multicultural population of Palestinian Arabs — approximately 86 percent Muslim, 10 percent Christian, and 4 percent Jewish. For centuries these groups lived in harmony.

In the late 1800s, a group in Europe decided to colonize this land. Known as "Zionists," this group consisted of an extremist minority of the Jewish population who wanted to create a Jewish homeland. They considered locations in Africa and the Americas before settling on Palestine, where the Jewish State of Israel was established in 1948.

"Although there are those who refuse to accept the teachings of our rabbis and will continue to support the Zionist state, there are also many who are totally unaware of the history of Zionism and its contradiction to the beliefs of Torah-True Jews. From its inception, many rabbis warned of the potential dangers of Zionism and openly declared that all Jews loyal to G-d should stay away from it like one would from fire. They made their opinions clear to their congregants and to the general public. Their message was that Zionism is a chauvinistic racist phenomenon which has absolutely naught to do with Judaism. They publicly expressed that Zionism would definitely be detrimental to the well being of Jews and Gentiles and that its effects on the Jewish religion would be nothing other than destructive. Further, it would taint the reputation of Jewry as a whole and would cause utter confusion in the Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Judaism is a religion. Judaism is not a race or a nationality. That was and still remains the consensus amongst the rabbis."

"We were given the Holy Land by G-d in order to be able to study and practice the Torah without disturbance and to attain levels of holiness difficult to attain outside of the Holy Land. We abused the privilege and we were expelled. That is exactly what all Jews say in their prayers on every Jewish festival, 'Umipnay chatoenu golinu mayartsaynu'-'Because of our sins, we were expelled from our land.'"

"We have been forsworn by G-d 'not to enter the Holy Land as a body before the predestined time;' 'not to rebel against the nations;' to be loyal citizens, not to do anything against the will of any nation or its honour; not to seek vengeance, discord, restitution or compensation; 'not to leave exile ahead of time.' On the contrary, we have to be humble and accept the yoke of exile. To violate the oaths would result in 'your flesh will be made prey as the deer and the antelope in the forest,' and the redemption will be delayed."

What Israel has to understand is that to be accepted as a member of the international community, it has to act like one and this involves abiding by UN Resolutions, it means not only halting the building of colonies on land which has been stolen from Palestinians, it involves dismantling each and every colony set up on land outside the original borders of Israel.

The theft of identities to carry out a mafia-style hit, violations of human rights, the bulldozing of civilian homes, the seizure of land, attacking ambulances and shooting rescue workers, the shooting of children in the eyes with rubber bullets, the wearing of T-shirts with pregnant women with the caption “Two for the price of one” or “Two with one bullet” may be funny to Israeli people, it may even be hilarious and no doubt has many of them curled up giggling themselves helplessly to a doubled laundry bill.

True, there are many Israelis who are not Zionists. True, there are many Israelis who support Palestinian causes and inspect the actions of the Israeli Defense Force. True, not all Jews support the murderous horrific and illegal practices of the State of Israel. Yet the State of Israel goes on and on and on…and on, perpetrating them.

And what precisely does Israel hope to gain from these outrages against international law? Friendship? Sympathy? Respect? If so, then the notion that Israelis are intelligent, if one may hazard a collective description, is blasted into outer space. Such actions drive a wedge further between the hearts and minds of those of us who wish to live together like brothers and sisters around a common lake – our seas – and those who seem to like to live and die by the sword.

The notion that Israel can get off scot-free after this latest act of terrorism is as unacceptable as it is true. Ladies and gentlemen, it is going to happen. Watch this space. Israel’s main colony, the United States of America (ruled in fact by AIPAC) will veto any attempt at sanctions through the United Nations. Turkey will not pull off a punitive raid. After all, Israelis are not defenceless Armenians.

Israel will not shift an inch. It will go on bulldozing homes, it will go on stealing land, it will go on shooting kids in the eye with rubber bullets, it will go on letting pregnant mothers die in the streets, it will go on carrying out acts of terrorism and it will go on committing slaughters. International diplomacy will do nothing because the United States of America is held in a vice-like grip around its throat (or wherever) by Tel Aviv.

The way forward is not diplomacy as it stands today because diplomacy and international law do not exist where Israel is concerned. Let’s be honest about it. The way forward is also not violence and terrorism because it is fundamentally wrong, goes against every grain of common human decency and anyway engenders only more violence in an escalating spiral. No, the way forward is through economic measures. This approach is totally legal, non-violent and effective.

The only thing that the international community can do, is act with its feet. Or rather, with its wallet, boycotting Israeli goods. Anything with the serial number 729 (first three numbers on the left of a bar code) comes from Israel.

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